Food machine



May 16, 195o E F, TUTTLE 2,507,838

FOOD MACHNE Filed March 19, 1945 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 ./va/vvro/a Eugene E'May 16, 1950 E, F, TUTTLE 2,507,838

FOOD MACHINE Filed March 19, 1945 3 Sheets-Shes?l 2 [9 l JANE/vrai? [6Eugene May 16, 1950 E. F.1'TTLE 2,507,838

FOOD MACHINE Filed March 19, 1945 v 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 nrnlu i i l' YA\\\\\\.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ .3 /o W PatentedMay 16, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEk FOOD MACHINE Eugene` F.Tuttle, N orth Hollywood, Calif.

Application` March 19, 1945, Serial No. 583,535

3. Claims.

Thisnyention relatesftomeafns and ways of producing an entire sandwichand lin cooking the sandwich parts to their properV and desiredcondition upon order to the, satisfaction of the diner while he waits.

The means.V and methodconsist in cooking the ller or meat portion of thesandwich and kalso the dough portion between which-the-ller portion isplaced', and all this isaccomplishedin a clean and sanitarymannerwithout touching the food portions. of the! sandwich by. humanhands.. The meansincludes an attractivel cabinetv or case in which allthe operations are performed, the cabinet or case being suitable forplacing upon a table or counter, or inthe show windowof the food serviceestablishment.

The lleror meat portion of,A the sandwich is rst automatically cooked toorder, and then the dough is positioned on either` side of-y the iillerVand the entire sandwich placed in abiaker chamber where the dough isbakedto order automatically. A plurality of` iiller4 and dough cookersare provided so that quick service can be obtained in a minimum of timefor any reasonable number of-orders.

One ofthe principal objectsof this inventionv drawings, the subjoineddetaileddescription, ,thev

preamble of thesel specifications and the ap,- pended claims.

Applicant is about to illustrate and describe one of the forms of'thisinvention in orderv to teach one'how to make and'use the same, but it istobe understood'that the drawingsI and description thereof are not tolimit the invention in any sense whatsover, exceptaslimitedby theappended claims.

In the drawings;

Fig. l showsv the invention infront elevationaly view,

Fig. 2.is atop plan .view of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is-a rear elevationalfview of the device shown in Fig. 1,

Fig. lV isa sectional-viewy taken substantially Fig. 5 is a sectionalview taken substantially along the line 5--5 of Fig. 4,

Fig. 6 is an enlarged elevational view, partly in section, showing anautomatic clutch device used in the invention,

Fig. 7. is a View taken substantially along the line l-'lof Fig.. l,

Fig. '7a is a view of a portion of a lever taken substantially alongtheline 'lc-la of Fig. '7,

Fig. 8 is a plan view, partly in section, of Fig. 7,

Fig. 9' is a schematic circuit arrangement for the heating elements andmotor employed in the invention,

Fig. 10. is a separated sectional View of a switching unit employed'inthe invention, and

Fig; l1 is an elevational view ofthe switch unit with partsbroken away.

The outer casing or cabinet for the sandwich making device illustrated,comprises a front wall I, bottom wall 2, top walls 3 and l joined bytheshort vertical wall 5, rear wall ii, and the two, end-walls land 8.The top wall l is provided with hinges and a handle as Well as dependingsidel flanges so that this wall makes a good seal butr can be opened toenable a workman to have access to an open top dough bin 9; TheAelongated'lower portion of the cabinet isfdivided into a pluralityof'chambers ll by a plurality of verticalpartitions lli, each chamberhaving an upper opening l2' and a relatively smaller and lower openingitat the front of the cabinet, andthe higher portion of the cabinet hasa single large opening I4; as shown.

The chambers i l, as well as a bin chamber I5, are'lined with asuitableporcelain or equivalent sheeting so as to make it'easy to clean theinterior Scale of the device and thus keep it sanitary. The dough bin 9-is'shaped, as shown, and at the bottom thereof'has a roller it which iskeyed to a shaft Il, the ends of which shaft are journalled in the lowerside walls of the bin. On the bottom of the bin there is an opening i8in the form of ay slot which receives and conducts dough from the binvia ofa recessed portion i9 in the roller. This recessedportion may betermed av pocket since -it holds a charge of dough. This charge of doughis removed from the roller by the hori.- zontalscraper edge 2li at theend of the curved ribbon spring 2l. The upper end of the spring issoldered or otherwise securely iixed to the front side of the bin 9 at22, and the spring is sprung so that the scraper edge 2li always andpositively engages the lower surface of the roller and especially therecessed-arcuate` surface of the pocket when it is passing bytheslotopening i8; The

approach and tail ends of the pocket are declined and inclinedrespectively so that the scraper rides into and out of the pocket incamfashion.

Keyed to the shaft l1 is a collar `23 which snugly bears upon and rideswithin the circular surface 24 of a gear member 25. This gear member isprovided with a curved recessed portion 26, shaped as shown, in which isa free rolling ball 21, this ball always rolling toward the narrowportion of the recess when the gear member is in position to receivemotion from the toothed and curved rack 28 to which it is meshed. Thecurved rack is attached to the lower end of the quadrant-like element 29that is pivoted to one side of the bin at 33. Attached to the rear edgeof the element 29 is a right-angle shaped arm 3| having at its distalend a horizontal bar 32 which is adapted to be engaged by the extendedflange 33 of a pan 34 or any one of a number of such pans, or any othertype of pan that can be used in a device of this nature.

The above related arrangement operates as follows when there is properlymixed and textured bread dough in the bin 9: The pan 34 is insertedthrough the opening I4 and the extension 33 thereof made to engage thebar 32, the pan is then pushed further into the chamber until stopped bythe angled arm 3| engaging the rear lining of the chamber or anysuitable stop. During this action, the element 29 is forced to the rearand forces the roller I6 to rotate a complete revolution because of theball 21 action within the clutch device 23--25 The dough within thepocket I9 is then freed therefrom by the scraper 20 as the roller turns,and the slab or piece of dough falls into the pan. When the pan orcarrier 34 is removed with the slab of dough therein, the element 29returns to its original position, as shown in Fig. 4, by the spring 35.W'hen the rack makes its return trip, the gear 25 is unaffected becausethe ball 21 of the clutch rotates only in the deep portion of itsrecessed track. This action is repeated as often as the pan is insertedentirely within the chamber.

The pan 34 is of the cover type and has the base section 36 and the lidportion 31, the lid being hinged to the handle 38 so that the lid willautomatically close when released from the operators hands. Althoughthis type of pan may be used for all purposes of this invention, it ispreferred to employ an open pan or carrier 39. see Fig. '1, for thecooking of the sandwich filler, which ller in most cases wouldundoubtedly be some kind of meat, and in the case of hamburgers the meatwould be of the ground type formed into a slab or patty.

The cooking chambers Il are alike, each being provided with the electricheating elements or units 40, 4l, 42 and 43 which have their verticalside edges supported in any suitable manner from the front and sidewalls of the chamber. Each of the elements 40 and 43 may be of 300 wattscapacity and the other two of 200 watts each as it is desired to havethe greatest heat supply below the pans, but these units may be variedas desired. Between the heating units there are guide rails xed to theside walls of each chamber for removably supporting the pans 34 and 3Sby their side iianges in the usual and well known manner.

Rearwardly of the electric heating elements there are upstanding levers45 and 46, each of which is pivoted at its lower end to bearing blocks41 that are attached to the oor of the cham- 4 ber. Rearward of thelevers is an electric switch box 48 that is xed to the floor of thechamber and which has a plurality of push-buttons 49 extendingtherefrom, the details of which will be explained later.

Behind the switch box, there are the timer wheels or discs 5B and 5!which are keyed to their common shaft 52, the shaft being supported inthe floor supported bearing member 53. The shaft is driven by theconnected gear and motor unit M. These wheels 50 and 5I each have aplurality of concentric bores with sleeves 54 therein, the sleevesproviding guide elements for bullet-like plungers 55 which are adaptedto be pushed part way through their respective sleeves when forced to doso by the side time-setting plates 56 and 51. These plates are hinged tothe floor of the chamber so that they can be swung toward theirrespective timer-wheels. Each plate has at the top half thereof anelongated curved perimetrical slot 58 along which rides a pin 59 thathas lixed to one end thereof a shiftable block G0 which is adapted toengage any one of the numerous plungers 55. The pins 59 are threaded andengaged by the wing-nuts 6| so that the blocks can be set inpredetermined positions upon the plates. For returning the plungers toposition after operation of the timer wheel or wheels, the inclinedplates 62 and 63 are provided which are xed to the oo` of the chamber,these plates acting as a cam-rider for any plunger that may be protrudedon the inner sides of the wheels.

Spaced apart latching levers 64 and 65 are pivoted on bearing blocksatop the switch box, these levers are congurated as shown, one long armthereof having a dog 66 and the other end being in the form of a shortarm 68 with a detent 61. The levers 45 and 4B each have a slot 59 attheir top end, see Fig. 7a, to accommodate the short arm 58 and toprovide a catch portion 10 for the detent 51, as this detent holds thelever against the buttons 49 until released by one of the plungersstriking the dog 66 and raising the long arm so as to lower the shortarm and cause the detent to unlatch from the lever part 1o. When thelever is so released, it opens all the switches on its side of theswitch box 48 and gives the pan or pans a slight forward push toindicate to the operator that the thing in the pan is cooked inaccordance to the time set.

For causing the plates 56 and 51 to move toward their respectivetime-wheels so as to set their respective plungers, each lever has xedthereto, as by welding or soldering, a bent arm 1I having the button 12fixed to the distal end thereof. A similaibutton 13 is fixed to the nearedge of each plate and in alinement with their respective arms so thatthe buttons of the arms ride over their companion buttons on the plates,and when this happens, the plate or plates are forced toward theirrespective time-wheels for movement of their respective time-settingblocks G for engagement with a plunger on the wheel.

Fig. 9 schematically shows the electric connections and Fig. 10 showsone form of construction for the switching device within the box 48. Theswitching unit has within its casing an insulating block 15 whichsupports all the upright conductor bands 16 and 11 for each button, thebands having their outlet through an insulated rear plate 18. At the topends of the bands are the contactors 19, one for each band, which closethe circuits of which they are a part. The front band of each switch isattached to one of the buttons as by means of screws or any othersuitable means.

By reference to Fig. 9, the various circuits can be easily traced. Oneside of all the switches are connected to the feed wire 8l which makesconnection with the high side, or live side, of any suitable source ofelectric current, such as for instance, 60 cycle alternating houselighting current of 115 volts. The iirst switch a has its low sideconnected with the rst heating element 40 by the wire 82, and a branchwire connects this same side of the same switch with one end of theheating element 4i. A jumper wire 83 connects the two low side contactsof switches b and c with one end of the heating element 43, and wire 84connects the low side of switch d with the heating element 44. The lowside contacts of switches b and c have connection with the motor M viaof wire 85. Wire 86 connects all the low side ends of the heatingelements to the other side of the supply at 8l. The motor is a slowspeed electric motor of any suitable make, but of suiiicient power toeasily drive the shaft 52 through the gears 52 and 53', these gearsbeing proportioned so that the timer wheels 50 and 5| are rotated at thespeed of one revolution per four minutes. Since there are twentyplungers, each plunger would be just twelve timespace seconds from itsneighbor, therefore, since dog 66 can be made to rise at any twelve setintervals less than four minutes, suiiicient time is allowed for thecooking and baking of the sandwich parts.

It should now be apparent, that the blocks 60 are first set by theoperator and the current switch turned on. Block 50 will set the properplunger to release the levers 45 and 46 at the proper time when thesandwich should be cooked. Release of the levers will shove the pan orpans outwardly and thus indicate to the operator that the sandwichor/and meat therein is done.

It is, of course, understood that various changes and modications may bemade in the details of form, style, design and construction of the wholeor any part of the specifically described embodiment of this inventionwithout departing from the spirit thereof, such changes andmodifications being restricted only by the limitations clearly expressedin the following claims.

Having thus described my invention, what is claimed as new and desiredto be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In a cooker device having a compartment with a heating unit and adoorway thereto, a lever means exposed to the compartment and adapted tobe shifted when the thing to be heated is injected into the compartment,the lever means having a hinge means attaching the lever means to a wallof the device and spring means -constantly urging the lever means towardthe thing to be heated, a timer wheel spaced from and rearwardly of thelever means, a slow speed motor means for driving the wheel at apredetermined rate of speed, a plurality of timer pins around theperiphery of the wheel, a switch means near the lever means whichcontrols the operation of the heating unit and the motor means, contactmeans on the switch means and the lever means which is adapted to closethe switch means when the lever means is at its rearwardmcst position,and pivoted rod means having one end constructed to engage and hold thelever means at its rearwardmost position and a rider dog means at itsother end adapted to be raised by any of the timer pins so as to releasethe lever means and thrust the thing being heated toward the doorway.

2. The device recited in claim 1 wherein the timer pins are shiftablethrough sleeves in the wheel, and a hinged plate means with a shiftableblock adapted to make contact with any of the timer pins and force itthrough its sleeve s0 as to protrude on the opposite side of the wheel.

3, The device recited in claim 1 wherein the wheel is provided with abore which allows its pin to be shifted therein, a movable plate on oneside of the wheel with an adjustable block for forcing anyone of thetimer pins through its respective bore, connecting means xing the plateto the lever means so that the plate moves toward the wheel when thelever means is forced to its most rearward position, and a cam meansadjacent one side of the wheel for forcing pins toward the other side 0fthe wheel.

EUGENE F. TUTTLE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are oi record in the le ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,328,202 Richardson Jan. 13,1920 1,492,603 Matson May 6, 1924 1,694,762 Ackerman Dec. 11, 19281,715,968 Weber et al. June 4, 1929 1,862,965 Maragos June 14, 19321,937,562 Ginder Dec. 5, 1933 2,105,858 Graham Jan. 18, 1938 2,171,510Stirgwolt Aug. 29, 1939 2,201,402 Knaust May 21, 1940 2,232,203 BemisFeb. 18, 1941 2,260,832 Dautscher Oct. 28, 1941 2,307,347 Anderson Jan.5, 1943 2,337,117 Lloyd Dec. 21, 1943 2,363,169 Fischer Nov. 21, 1944

